Атлант расправил плечи

           "Whotaughtyoutodothis?""Oh,that’sjustsomethingIfiguredout."Shedidnotknowthatwhatherfatherheldonthecrumpledsheetsofpaperwasthecrudeversionofadifferentialequation.

           TheheirsofSebastiánd‘Anconiahadbeenanunbrokenlineoffirstsons,whoknewhowtobearhisname.Itwasatraditionofthefamilythatthemantodisgracethemwouldbetheheirwhodied,leavingthed’Anconiafortunenogreaterthanhehadreceivedit.Throughoutthegenerations,thatdisgracehadnotcome.AnArgentinianlegendsaidthatthehandofad‘Anconiahadthemiraculouspowerofthesaints—onlyitwasnotthepowertoheal,butthepowertoproduce.

           Thed‘Anconiaheirshadbeenmenofunusualability,butnoneofthemcouldmatchwhatFranciscod’Anconiapromisedtobecome.Itwasasifthecenturieshadsiftedthefamily’squalitiesthroughafinemesh,haddiscardedtheirrelevant,theinconsequential,theweak,andhadletnothingthroughexceptpuretalent;asifchance,foronce,hadachievedanentitydevoidoftheaccidental.

           Franciscocoulddoanythingheundertook,hecoulddoitbetterthananyoneelse,andhediditwithouteffort.Therewasnoboastinginhismannerandconsciousness,nothoughtofcomparison.Hisattitudewasnot:"Icandoitbetterthanyou,"butsimply:"Icandoit."Whathemeantbydoingwasdoingsuperlatively.